Hello,
I love to read books, especially when it teaches me something, about History in this case.
I read in French, which is my mother-language. I have read in English already when I was young (about 25 years ago) and I still read posts in English, but for the books, I prefer to read in French.
I'm Belgian, but at school, we also learn the French History, in a broad way. To know a little more about it, I like to read books (roman style, not dictionnaries, lol) or to watch series, movies and documentaries.
This book is the first of the trilogy "Sans peur et sans reproche" (fearless and blameless).
Volume 1 on 3 : "Bayard et le crime d'Amboise" (Bayard, crime at Amboise)
Synopsis :
The story takes place in 1498, in the city of Amboise, on the Loire river (South-West of Paris), when the French king Charles VIII died suddenly, although he was in good health.
The knight Bayard, whom real name is Pierre Terrail, is not convinced of an accidental death and decided to talk about it to Philippe de Commynes, the closest king's advisor, and also to the queen Anne de Bretagne, to gain more time for his investigation.
As in many stories in the area of the royal court, the allies and enemies are often not where we expect them to be.
During the first few days after the death, the population was only informed of an accident and that the king had to stay in bed. Keeping it secret was also a way to avoid conspiracies to choose the successor on the throne, seing that there was no child issued from the union of king Charles VIII and queen Anne de Bretagne. Their marriage-contract stipulated also that the queen will have to marry the successor of the dead king.
Legally, the next king must be the closest relative of the previous one.
My review :
I didn't know this author and I discovered him with this book. His style of writing is nice to read. He's using some unusual terms, quite ancient. Therefore, you'll find a glossary at the end of the book with the meaning of some terms marked with an asterisk, along the chapters.
I would have preferred to find the significations of those terms at the bottom of each page, like it's done for other explanations.
I visited the castle of Amboise and the castle of Clos-Lucé (called Le Cloux in 1498) several times already and it helps me to visualize the story in the different places.
The Clos-Lucé is also known as the last house of Leonard de Vinci. Nowadays, it's a museum dedicated to his works of painting and of engineering. This Florentin artist is buried in the domain of Amboise's castle, more precisely in the St-Hubert Chapel.
Reading this book made me want to go back in this nice city, resting in a cave house , to change from our habits. I'm pretty sure, the Clos-Lucé will interest my husband Itharagaian.
If you read in French, go for it ! I already begun the second volume of the trilogy yesterday evening.
Unfortunately, I didn't find the book in English in the case you want to read it.
If you find it, do not hesitate to mention the English title in a comment to help other readers.
That's it for today, bye for now,
Take care of you,
Isiksen
Picture of my own book